soddersays | AUGUST 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

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AUGUST 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to August's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: CRYPTID HORROR.

All Test Drive Memes contain at least one clue to the Deerington's upcoming in-game events for the month! Keep your eyes peeled! But...not literally.

Characters may die during TDMs, but you do not need to count it towards a game-canonical death unless you want to. Consider it a freebie. All TDMs can be considered game canon as TDMs introduce minor aspects about the world of Deerington that can be revisited by characters later on in the game. You may also use TDMs for your application writing sample as well as AC.

CW: Violent animals, ghosts, hallucinations
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?

Everyone loves s'mores, right? Of course you do. If you've never had them, you're gonna love them, and if for some reason you hate them, well, as it usually goes in Deerington, something inside of you will nag at you about how maybe you ought to give them another chance. There's a variety of different kinds of s'more flavors to try and plenty of perfect campfires to roast your marshmallows over. There's promise of wholesome and innocent fun to be had! Surely that won't be a lie this time.

Everyone who gathers around the fire for some tasty treats will find themselves in the mood to share creepy stories from their home worlds. Maybe they make one up on the spot or maybe it's an ancient legend that was passed down through the ages. Regardless, there's gonna be a whole variety of spooky stories, and the flavor s'more you're eating seems to dictate the theme that you'll end up leaning towards.

🔥 Traditional S'Mores will have people wanting to tell classic ghost stories. Maybe it's a haunted house you ended up in or a spirit who possessed the friend of the brother of this guy from your town once. The main theme here will be ghosts of all varieties.

🔥 Peanut Butter & Chocolate S'Mores will have people wanting to tell slasher stories. A famous serial killer from home, maybe, or the story about a group of kids who went up into a cabin in the mountains where there was once said to be a creepy caretaker and they were never heard from again...

🔥 Chocolate Chip Cookie S'Mores will have people wanting to tell monster stories. Local legends, maybe, or the classic stories about werewolves, vampires, and Bigfoot. Any kind of monsters will do.

🔥 Salted Caramel S'Mores will inspire people to tell revenge stories. These could be legendary warnings that exemplify why vengeance always leads to digging two graves. Or maybe it's your own story of revenge from home— or the fantasy revenge you'd like to get someday.

🔥 Nutella S'Mores will have people wanting to tell personal horror stories. These stories are ones that hit extremely close to home. The scariest, most bone-chilling memory you have, no matter how silly or serious it may be in comparison to those around you. Hopefully most people aren't fans of chocolate hazelnut?

Regardless of which story you hear, anyone gathered around the campfire will listen intently to all words spoken, and they will find themselves believing every word. On your walk home, you'll be filled with a sense of paranoia and dread, seeing things move out of the corner of your eye that may or may not be there. Is that a man with a hook for a hand or is your imagination just playing tricks on you? It's certainly hard to tell.

These can stay as harmless hallucinations, but for those who end up stuck in the paranoia for too long without being talked down, they will slowly start to become real. Eventually, they can become solid enough for other people to start seeing them, and the creatures from your mind may even start to attack. They can be defeated with normal weaponry or by the power of positive thinking! Wish your attacker away with enough conviction, and poof! They'll be gone.

Let's hope you can do it before you end up the victim for the next slasher story someone tells.

AHHH! REAL MONSTERS

It seems that the monsters from these stories aren't the only ones popping up in Deerington, though. There's talk from locals of multiple sightings of classic Maine legends all over town. They're easy to ignore as the townsfolk just being easily spooked for a while. But when enough stories start to line up, you might start to think maybe there's some truth to them. Or maybe you'll even end up seeing one of the monsters for yourself.

Down in Lake Tomoei, the legendary Cassie can sometimes be spotted peaking up from the water, or trying to attack anyone who even tries to go near the lakes shores. She's a nasty beast with one hell of a temper and she's quite possessive of the lake she's found herself in. 100 feet long with a skinny neck and a fish like tale, she definitely seems like a force to be reckoned with. Cassie is easily injured by ordinary weapons, but her skin is thick, so it will take a while to draw blood. Most likely, she'll disappear into the depths of the lake before she can be killed.

Up in the mountains, there's talk of the ancient evil Pamola. Penobscot legend describes him as half-man, half-eagle, with the head of a moose and a temper to match one. Pamola can't stand people visiting his mountain, even for a casual hike, and will often try to deter people away with random and unpredictable storms; thunder, snow, and powerful winds will beat down on whoever goes looking for Pamola. If you manage to find him, he will show no mercy when he attacks. Most who have tried to find him have been killed and eaten by the evil spirit. Because he's an ancient spirit, he will be particularly hard to defeat if you manage to find him; he can not be killed, but you can offer a sacrifice to quell his anger. If you have magical powers that can hurt deities, these will still be effective in weakening him until he retreats.

The final creature that seems to be wandering about is the Specter Moose (pictured above). This moose is thirteen feet tall, with thirteen foot wide antlers, and is a blinding white color. The moose can be found wandering in the park, usually, but sometimes it comes out to look around town. He may seem harmless, even cute, but don't get to close; moose are dangerous and locals fear them for a reason. They can charge at the drop of a hat and not even large vehicles tend to survive an encounter with a creature that big. The Specter Moose also seems to be incapable of being injured by normal weapons; solid objects mostly go right through it, unless it's purposefully aiming for them. You'll either have to get a shot in while he's slamming into something (or someone) or just run. Anyone who has magic or weapons that can hurt spiritual beings will be able to fight the Specter Moose as they normally would.

Character Arrival

You can read how all characters arrive in Deerington here.

There is not a collective "all these characters showed up at the exact same moment" occurrence in Deerington. Since characters fall asleep, die, or pass out at various times throughout all their worlds, it wouldn't make too much sense if they arrived in game all at the exact same time. There should be some discrepancy between character arrival, whether by a couple minutes, hours, or even days up to a week.

The players are entirely in control of how/when they want to play their characters arriving in Deerington. For TDMs, you can play it like your character has just arrived and that can be maintained as your game canon, or you can wait until game events for that moment. Or you don't need to acknowledge it at all. The flexibility for character allows a bit more of an organic feel to the character arrival situation, so please play it to whatever feels right for you.

If you are interested in having an "arrival" introduction for one of your TDM prompts, you are more than welcome to explore that option.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Arthur takes the box, reaching in to take a cracker right away, his expression genuinely tired and resigned. He hesitates a moment and then slips a cracker into his mouth. That's the point of no return, then.]

[Eames stands once Arthur's taken a bite, passing by him to the kitchen. He pauses to put a hand on Arthur's shoulder as he goes and give it a light squeeze, hoping it's at least a little comforting.]

[It's less than a minute before he's back with a bottle of scotch and two glasses.]

In hindsight, maybe I should've lead with this.

[He holds up the bottle for emphasis.]

[Arthur can't help but smile warmly at that, finishing the cracker and then leaning forward to put the box back on the coffee table. Boxer's still in his business, so he pays him some attention as he sits back with a sigh.]

Might've helped, yeah.

[Eames pours them both a liberal drink and hands a glass to Arthur.]

Better late than never.

Thanks.

[Arthur immediately takes a long sip, wincing at the burn as he sits back in the chair.]

This is... a lot.

Yeah.

[He sits on the arm of Arthur's chair and sighs.]

It is good to see you though.

[Arthur puts his hand on Eames' knee and looks up at him with a tired smile. If nothing else it's good to have this familiarity.]

[Honestly he feels a little guilty for how at ease Arthur's presence makes him, but they've worked together on so many insurmountable odds it makes this whole thing seem a little less bleak.]

[Plus there's the comfort of a familiar face. Something he chooses to express by leaning down to nose lightly at Arthur's face and draw him into a kiss.]

[This is what Arthur's been waiting for. It feels like the final confirmation that Eames is real and here and that at least he can have this. He hums softly and lingers on Eames' lips before he pulls away an inch to just exist in this moment.]

[God, he missed this. Eames breathes a noise that's almost a laugh and rests his forehead against Arthur's, free hand laying flat on his chest, hesitant to do or say anything lest he ruin this moment.]

[Arthur stays right there, breathing in Eames' closeness and letting it calm him down. Enough so that he can ask the next question without dreading the answer.]

What do we do now?

Edited 2020-07-27 01:09 (UTC)

I don't know.

[He takes a breath, wishing he could just enjoy the way Arthur smells exactly how he remembers. How Arthur's hand on his leg is so familiar he could close his eyes and trick himself into believing they're back in London.]

[He finds himself having a fleeting thought, wondering if his own doppelganger has these stupid sentimental feelings or if it's an affectation of his age and species. But then he's back in the moment, trying genuinely to focus on what's best right now for Arthur and not what Eames wants.]

Do our best to get you settled in, I suppose.

[Maybe Arthur's imagining it, but Eames does seem to have some weariness on him, the the point where he can believe that he's been here a year. It's fucked up, since the last thing he remembers is Eames pulling him in close as they fell asleep in his bed in London, but it's not necessarily the wildest thing he's ever heard.]

[So. Settling in. Arthur opens his mouth, hesitates, and glances around the room, privately debating whether to ask if he can stay here or how to find a place of his own. The uncertainty of their relationship is suddenly and painfully hard to navigate.]

[He knows Arthur far too well at this point to ignore that hesitation. It'll fester, come up later as something far more than it ever needed to be. Eames tilts his head, thinking about what to say, and pulls back just enough to look at him with a light frown.]

What is it?

[He shakes his head.]

It's nothing.

[If Eames isn't going to offer that's a pretty good indication they shouldn't. He sighs, not necessarily disappointed, but just cementing this in his mind so he knows where he stands.]

How do I find somewhere to live?

You should've woken up somewhere, a house or a flat. It's yours if you want it.

Oh.

[Right, so not even an excuse to stay here for a few days. He was stupid to want that anyway. Arthur doesn't want to give Eames too much time to wonder why he's behaving this way so he moves on.]

Okay. What else is there to do?

A lot, honestly.

[Sorry bud. Eames frowns and leans back a little so he can take a sip of his drink, a frown on his face as he tries to think back to his own arrival.]

But I think that's everything you need to start at least.

[Arthur nods and lets out a sigh from deep down in his chest. It's been a long time since he felt so genuinely lost. The thought occurs to him that he should go back to the apartment he woke up in, but he doesn't know what he'd do when he got there, and he's frustratingly aware that he doesn't want to be alone right now. He can be alone, but with the knowledge that Eames is here it seems more painful somehow.]

[Fuck, this is all so stupid. Scotch will help, right?]

[God, caring is so inconvenient. He can't tell if he hates seeing that look on Arthur's face or how badly he wants to fix it more, but there's nothing Eames can do about it. Another thing he hates. Eames looks at him for a long few moments and then drops his free hand to comb his fingers through Arthur's hair.]

Do you want to stay here a few days while you get your feet under you?

[It's definitely purely altruism on his part.]

[His throat tightens around the immediate yes he wants to blurt out. He takes a steadying breath instead and leans into Eames' hand.]

I don't want to put you out.

I wouldn't offer if it was a problem.

[Arthur sighs again. It's hard to say this next bit, but he's had a lot of practice being honest with Eames against his own instinct and that's not changing just because of these ridiculous circumstances.]

I just don't want to be alone right now.

[He has to gently nudge Boxer out of the way (sorry Boxer) and slides into Arthur's lap, straddling him so he can look at him properly.]

It's fine. I'm here.

[Arthur puts his hands on Eames' hips.]

It won't be more than a few days.

AUGUST 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?

AHHH! REAL MONSTERS

Character Arrival

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